A space for discussion about issues raised by the pervasiveness of the web.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

TRADITIONAL TELEVISION WILL NEVER DIE - NEVER!...well maybe

How many of you guys watch TV shows online?

Well first of all, I’m so busy now that, truthfully, I don’t even have time to watch TV. But if I hear about some show that I just MUST watch (because friends are going ballistics over it or its making headlines?) then I might just look it up online. I have never really been into watching shows religiously or following a sitcoms season after season. The only show that I’m obsessed with is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air I have pretty much all the seasons on DVD =D. So I easily just pop a DVD in and watch it over and over again, and never get bored. Anyway, the point is that whatever I want to watch is at more convenience to me online because I can choose the time I want to watch it and if I needed to stop it I could.

After reading the Business Insider’s article – Sorry, There's No Way To Save The TV Business – I agree but to some extent.

“After saying all this same stuff for years, the newspaper industry figured out the hard way that, eventually, reality intrudes, that you can't stuff the genie back in the bottle. And over the next 5-10 years, the TV industry will figure this out, too. “

What the article is basically saying is that, within the next few years, cable, dish and broadband, will no longer be able to afford staying in business. This is because the online video/network streaming sites are already, and will be, offering the same shows for a very small fraction of the price of cable and etc. Meaning the audience will only pay for what they want to see and none of the extra channels.

To fight back against total Internet control, the TV industry is basically limiting what can be streamed online (for example not every episode is available online or single episode downloads that expire after 24 hours), shifting times for shows, and even offering triple-play packages with phone Internet and TV.

I love digital. I can totally see all this happening, however, I do not think TV will COMPLETELY die out. One of the main reasons is because of FAMILY TV/DINNER TIME. I understand that as days are passing, our world is becoming even more and more insane with less and less time in our hands but TV is a simple form of relaxation and free time. There is no need to log on, search for the video then wait for videos to load then watch it.

More so, at the end of the article it was listed that“The best content creators will do just fine." and “The lousy content creators will disappear."Obviously if the best content creators remain on top, their fans and audience will be there also, therefore their channel will run. As for the not to great content creators, well, they were bound to disappear sooner or later.

So, even though most of us are too busy to sit down and watch some good quality TVprogramming, we still appreciate the good stuff that comes on when we do get a chance to watch. Not to mention the popular TV guide that people like to flip through just for the hell of it. As times goes on the cable companies will lower prices, and cable TV will become default with our phone lines and internet. We probably wont even stop to think about paying that extra $5 for cable TV, it will just be there for us when we want it.